Metal pot for slug casting machines



July 4, 1939. E. M. GOODBODY METAL POT FOR SLUG CASTING MACHINES Filed Sept. 15, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet l n n ITK r INVENTOR lava/QM G'ooasoay ATTORNEYS y 1939- E. GOODBODY- 77 MET-AL PQT FOR SLUG CASTING MACHINES Filed Sept. 15, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ZZJ/vwva/Z 5 000500) Patented July 4, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT GFFICE Edmund M. Goodbody, Bellerose, N. Y., assignor to Intertype Corporation, Brooklyn, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application September 15, 1938, Serial No. 230,101

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to improvements in metal pots for slug casting machines and more especially to those of the general class disclosed in U. S. Letters Patent No. 436,532, granted September 16, 1890, wherein lines of character bearing matrices are presented to one face of a slotted mold and an elongated mouthpiece on the metal pot is brought against the opposite face of the mold to cast a type slug therein, the metal pot usually having a pump therein which is operative at the appropriate time to inject a charge of molten metal from the metal reservoir through the metal pot throat and through orifices in the mouthpiece and into the mold, after which the metal pot retreats and the slug is ejected from the mold.

In order to maintain the metal in the pot in molten condition and at the proper temperature to produce good type slugs, it is customary to pro- 0 vide heaters, either electric or gas, which are applied externally or internally of the main metal reservoir of the pot, and since the mouthpiece is located at the outer end of the throat and remote from the pot reservoir, another heater is usually 5 provided to supply sufficient heat to the throat and mouthpiece to insure the proper fiow of the molten metal therethrough.

It is well known, in the operation of slug casting machines, that the temperature of the metal ,0 pot mouthpiece is an important factor in the production of satisfactory type slugs, and while it is the aim in practice to maintain the mouthpiece at a uniform temperature from end to end by applying a uniform amount of heat at all 5 points along its length, it has been found that uniformity in the application of heat to the mouthpiece is not always desirable, and in any event, such manner of application of heat does not always result in uniformity of temperature 4 throughout the length of the mouthpiece, due to a variety of conditions which are brought about when slugs of different sizes are cast. Among these conditions is the additional amount of heat supplied to the mouthpiece due to the flow of a 5 greater or less amount of molten metal through it according to the volume of metal required to fill molds of different sizes. Another variable condition is that resulting from the introduction of more heat at one end of the mouthpiece than at $0 the other end as when continuously casting short slugs.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide simple and effective means for counteracting or compensating for these variable con- ;5 ditions by maintaining the mouthpiece at the proper working temperature for the production I of satisfactory type slugs, whether the demand be for uniform or for varying temperatures along different portions of the mouthpiece, it providing means for regulating the heat supplied to different portions of the pot mouthpiece, such means preferably comprising adjustable devices for varying the extent of the mouthpiece which is subject to the direct action of the source of heat.

More specifically, the invention provides, in the case of an electric heater, a device for adjusting portions only of the heating coil or element toward and away from direct or intimate contact with the mouthpiece, especially toward either end thereof while at the same time retaining positive and direct contact of other portions of the heater with the mouthpiece.

To these and other ends, the invention consists in certain improvements and combinations and arrangements of parts all as will be hereinafter more fully described, the features of novelty being pointed out more particularly in the claims at the end of this specification.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a top plan view, partly in section, of an electrically heated metal pot embodying the present invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevation, partly in section, of the metal pot shown in Fig. 1;

Figure 3 is a front elevation of the upper portion of the metal pot, on an enlarged scale, showing the mouthpiece and the associated parts of the metal pot; and

Figure 4 is a detail View in elevation of a modified form of adjusting slide for the electric metal pot shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3.

Similar parts are designated by the same reference characters in the several figures.

The invention is shown in the present instance as applied to a metal pot of the Well known kind generally used in slug casting machines, it comprising a crucible I supported in but thermally insulated from a jacket 2 having a cover 3, the crucible carrying a supply of molten type metal and having a pump well which communicates with the exterior or metal reservoir portion of the crucible, the molten metal being forced upwardly through the throat portion t of the crucible by actuation of a pump plunger 5 so that the molten metal passes through an elongated mouthpiece 6 into the elongated slot I of a mold 8 against the rear face of which the mouthpiece engages during the slug casting operation, the mold slot i being closed at the front during such operation by a line of matrices 9. The mouthpiece 6 is secured to the upper end of the metal pot throat in the usual or any suitable manner, as by screws and bolts 6 and 6 and it is provided with a row of orifices 6 which are aligned with the throat and with the mold slot during the slug casting operation, as is usual in the operation of slug casting machines.

The metal pot as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 is of a Well known kind in which the type metal therein is kept in molten condition by externally applied electric heaters comprising separate side heaters H] and H and a throat and mouthpiece heater l2, these heaters being composed of coils of heating wires the terminals of which are led into a terminal box l3 attached to the side of' the metal pot jacket, as shown in Fig. 1.

Ordinarily, the coils of the heater 12 are held in direct or intimate contact with the bottom surface of the pot throat 4 by a metal plate l4 secured by screws to raised ribs M on the bottom of the throat, this plate andthe ribs forming a pocket into which the heater may beinserted-and removed from the front of the pot. Two adjustable set screws l5 threaded into the jacket 2 act on the plate M to' press the upper endof the heater 12 into contact with the. upper end of the throat and to hold the uppermost coils of this heater in intimate contact with the under side of the mouthpiece 6 over the entire width of the mouthpiece. A solid elongated metal block M lies against the upper end of the plate 54 and is held in place by a shield" Mi said block acting as a heat retaining body and being free to move laterally to the slight extent necessitated when the'plate 54 yields as hereinafter pointed out.

According to the present invention, means is provided for so adjusting or setting the portion of the: heater l2 which supplies heat to the mouthpieceas to cause it to supply more or lessheat to the mouthpiece at one end or the other end thereof, according to needs. For thisv purpose,

the two longitudinal stretches of the heater wire l2 which immediately underlie: the mouthpiece and are normally held in director intimate contact therewith by the plate 54 and set screws I5 are rendered adjustable into and out of such contacting relation at one or bath ends of the mouthpiece; However, the mounting of the heater and the means provided for effecting the adjustment is such that at no time will all portions of the heater be removed from contact with the mouthpiece, and no'such'arrangement is contemplated or intended by the present invention. The adjustment may be effectedin different ways as for example by a vertically movable slide I 6 which may be set so as to permitor'prev'ent-the heater wire from'contactingwith the mouthpiece toward one or the other end thereof, one of "these slides being provided at each end of the-mouthpiece and secured in adjusted position by suitable means asfor example a'screw IT engaging in an elongated slot I8 in the respective" slide. Eachof the slides iii" may be fittedto slide in a vertical recess. or guideway l9' in the respective end of the mouthpiece and may be adjusted,

downwardly by tapping. it whileithe screw is loosened sufficiently to permit movement of the slide, after which the screw may be tightened. While so adjusting one or the other slide Hi, the set screw l5 nearest to that end of the mouthpiece may be loosened-if desired, although such is not necessary since the lower end of each slide engages the heater wire at a point sufficiently remote from the bearing of the set screw l5 on the plate,l4 to-permit the'wire and the plate toyield.

It will be understood that, to effect the desired control of the heat applied by the heater wire l2 to the corresponding end portion of the mouthpiece, it is only necessary to move the heater wire sufliciently to bring its end portion out of immediate contact with the mouthpiece. Thus, in Fig. 3 the slide 16 at the left hand end of the mouthpiece is set downwardly about inch and in this position it holds the heater wire i2 out of contact with the mouthpiece for about 1 inches from that end thereof. To bring the heater wire I2 back into contact with the mouthpiece, it is only necessary to loosen the screw H, whereupon the wire l2 and plate I will'spring upwardly, assuming-of course that these parts are of a springy or yieldingnature; otherwise, the modified form of slide it shown in Fig. 4 may be employed, the lower end of this slide having a slot 29 in which the heater wire I2 is engaged for positive up and down movement of an end portion of the wire about the nearest screw l5 as afulcrum when the slideis adjusted vertically.

While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, it'will be understood of course that the invention is not 1' stricted thereto; Obviously, the detailed construction of the slide it or it may vary, and the slide or its equivalent may engage more or less coils or Wiresv ofthe heater or it may be employed to effect the desired adjustment of other forms of electric heaters.

The invention, in its broader aspect, contemplates adjustment of the yieldable heating means of the metal potin part only rather than as a unit and thus in such a manner that theheat' supplied thereby will be applied to the mouthpiece in' greater or less degree over different portions of the extent or length thereof and particularly toward at'least' one end thereof, according to the varying conditions-and requirements of service. The adjustment provided permits alteration of the extent of the mouthpiece subjected to the direct action of the source of heat so that the desired temperature conditions, whether uniform or variable, can be more readily obtained and controlled. Such adjustment of the heating means enables its heating effect upon different extents of the length of the mouthpiece to be relatively'vari'ed' in a simple and effective manner independently of regulation of the actual source of'heat supply without removal or manipulation of the heater as aunit to effect an adjustment andwhile the heat producingmedium is fed to the entire heating means at a constant or n'ormalrat'e.

I- claim as my invention: a

1'. In aslugcasting machine having a metal pot with an elongated mouthpiece, a yieldable electric heater disposed longitudinally of the mouthpiece and having're'silient' means for holding it normally inintimate contact therewith over the entire length thereof, and'adjustable meanson the mouthpiece adapted? in one position of adjustment; to cooperate witli the heater to yieldingly move a portion only thcreof outof contact ing relation with a corresponding portion, of the mouthpiece in opposition to said resilient holding means. f g

a 2. In a slug casting machine having'a metal pot with an elongated mouthpiece, a yieldable electric heater disposed longitudinally of the mouthpiece and having resilient means acting to hold it normally in intimate contact with the mouthpiece over the entire length thereof, and adjust-' able means at at least one end of the mouthpieceoperative to move the adjacent end portion of the heater out of intimate contact with the respective end portion of the mouthpiece while said resilient means retains the remainder of the heater in intimate contact with the remainder of the length of the mouthpiece.

3. In a slug casting machine having a metal pot with an elongated mouthpiece, a yieldable electric heater disposed longitudinally of the mouthpiece and having resilient means for holding it normally in intimate contact therewith over the entire length thereof, and an adjusting member at an end of the mouthpiece engageable with said heater and operable to move a portion only thereof toward and away from intimate contact with,

the mouthpiece toward one end and to hold the same in one or the other of such positions.

EDMUND M. GOODBODY. 

